Welcome! My name is Karen Sobel, and I am a reference and instruction librarian at the
Auraria Library in downtown Denver, Colorado. Auraria Library serves the populations
of the University of Colorado Denver (my official employer), Metropolitan State College of Denver, and the Community College of Denver, as well as the public.
My "Primary Job"
At Auraria, I spend much of my time giving library instruction sessions to freshman composition classes at our three institutions. This gives me the opportunity to experiment with teaching methods, classroom activities, and assessment tools. I particularly enjoy working with freshmen because we can help them develop research skills that will aid them throughout their college careers and beyond. Plus, freshmen are just plain fun.
At the reference desk I function as a generalist, but I'm especially enthusiastic about questions involving literature and psychology. I also continue my mission to reach out to freshmen at the desk. At the moment I'm working with our Web Librarian, Nina McHale, as well as my colleagues in the reference department, to develop "Ask Auraria," a new virtual reference service.
With Auraria colleagues Lorrie Evans and Gayle Bradbeer, I am developing a course for CU Online called "Navigating Library Research." The course focuses on general library research skills for students in all majors. We hope that it may become particularly popular among distance education students.
Research
My current research involves freshmen as well. With Dr. Kenneth Wolf, Interim Director of Learning Outcomes Assessment at the University of Colorado Denver, I am comparing tools for assessment student learning in the library classroom.
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I researched the relationships between various methods of promoting library reference services and students' self-reported motivations for visiting the reference desk. I look forward to conducting related research in the future.
Publications
- Forthcoming: "Evaluating and Enhancing the Latino Literature Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill," North Carolina Libraries, 66.2(Fall/Winter 2008).
- Forthcoming: "Promoting Library Reference Services to First-Year Undergraduate Students: What Works?," RUSQ, Summer 2009.
- "Bringing Freshmen to the Reference Desk," MLS: Marketing Library Services, May/June 2008.
Presentations
- "Working Smarter, Not Harder: Teaching Students and Staff with Screencasting," American Library Association Annual Conference, June/July 2008. (With Meg Brown-Sica and Denise Pan.)
- "Why Do Freshmen Visit the Reference Desk?" Colorado Academic LibraryConsortium Summit 2008, 23 May 2008.
Education
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
Master of Science in Library Science, 2007
Master of Arts in English, 2004
The Pennsylvania State University:
Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English, 2002
Minor in Psychology, 2002
Personal
I am an avid reader, letter-writer, chef (more or less), ragtime pianist, classic movie buff, and member of the Colorado Mountain Club. My favorite authors are Isabel Allende, Mark Helprin, J.K. Rowling, and above all, Salman Rushdie. My husband Eric and I live in the Rocky Mountain foothills west of Denver.
